A botched robbery plot killed a Clovis man. Now she’s going to prison for her role

Gunman opens fire, kills motorist in downtown Fresno

Fresno police investigate the scene where a Mercedes crashed into two cars on Fresno Street in central Fresno on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. The driver of the Mercedes, identified Tuesday, Jan. 19 as Michael Der Vartanian, 59, died of gunshot wounds su
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Fresno police investigate the scene where a Mercedes crashed into two cars on Fresno Street in central Fresno on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. The driver of the Mercedes, identified Tuesday, Jan. 19 as Michael Der Vartanian, 59, died of gunshot wounds su
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A 19-year-old woman on Tuesday was sentenced to four years in prison for her role in the 2016 attempted robbery and murder of Michael Der Vartanian, a 59-year-old commercial airline pilot from Clovis.

April Ahjanae Amey, who was 16 at the time, pleaded no contest to attempted robbery and was sentenced last week by Judge James Kelley. She was originally charged with murder but that charge was dropped.

Der Vartanian was killed by a group of teenagers who hatched a plot to rob him while he was talking to a prostitute near downtown Fresno.

Police said Amey was on Belmont Avenue near Mariposa Street when she was approached by three teenagers who asked her to help them rob someone. She agreed. And when Der Vartanian showed up in his black Mercedes the plan to rob him unraveled.

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Der Vartanian got spooked when he saw one of the teenagers approaching his car with a handgun. He sped off, but not before the gunman Zachery Goodwin fired several shots at the car, hitting Der Vartanian in the upper torso and left shoulder.

Der Vartanian was taken to Community Regional Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.

Goodwin, 19, was recently found guilty of second-degree murder and attempted robbery. He will be sentenced on June 26.

Two other teenagers were also charged in the crime. Eddie Nathan Martinez, who was 16 at the time, pleaded no contest in 2017 to two counts of conspiring to commit a crime, burglary in the second degree and receiving stolen property.